Américo Ramos appointed Prime Minister of São Tomé after agreement

O President Santomense appointed today Prime Minister Américo Ramos, leader of Independent Democratic Action (ADI), second most voted party in the September elections, after receiving guarantee of government stability, announced the Presidency.

According to the Presidency of the Republic, the appointment of Américo d’Oliveira dos Ramos as Prime Minister and Head of the XX Constitutional Government, proposed by the ADI, and, “comes up after the presentation of a guarantee, given in writing to the Head of State, of the existence of sufficient parliamentary support to ensure the stability of government action, a guarantee that the MLSTP, first convened by the President of the Republic, could not present”.

The Presidency of the Republic did not reveal the guarantee of sustainability presented by the IDA, but hours earlier, the presidents of the IDA and the coalition Independent Citizens Movement/Socialist Party/National Unity Party (MCI-PS/PUN), Domingos Monteiro reaffirmed the parliamentary sustainability agreement to secure the next Government led by Américo Ramos.

“The IDA is a governance party. It means that it has its own structure, organized (...), in 24 hours or less we manage to structure and organize a government and present to the President of the Republic”, said Américo Ramos.

The chairman of the MCI-PS/PUN coalition, Domingos Monteiro, reaffirmed that the agreement is “for a four-year governance” and “continues firm” in giving the “parliamentary guarantee” to “a solid government” of the ADI.

However, the president of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP), winner of legislative in São Tomé and Príncipe, urged the President to reject a Government of the ADI, supported by the MCI/PUN, claiming that this was the promise of the Head of State.

“I mean that right after the elections, I was contacted by more than five emissaries with clear and unambiguous messages that any agreement that any party would establish with the MCI/PUN party would be vetoed for constituting the red line. This information was also confirmed by his Excellency, the President of the Republic,” said today the president of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP), Américo Barros.

Américo Barros said that the party presented its name for the position of Prime Minister and the elements that justify “the parliamentary sustainability that the President of the Republic required”, substantiating itself in the election results, in which the MLSTP has 24 mandates, adding to two Members of the Movement Just and “four other Members who expressed and guaranteed, under reserve, parliamentary support to the MLSTP”.

The MLSTP was the winner of the 27 September parliamentary elections with 24 deputies, and has claimed the right to form the next government.

However, after the elections, the Independent Democratic Action (ADI), which elected 23 of the 55 Members, signed a parliamentary agreement with the third most voted force, the coalition Independent Citizens Movement/Socialist Party/National Unity Party (MCI-PS/PUN), with six deputies, forming an absolute majority of 29 Members for the continuity of the Prime Minister, Américo Ramos.

Américo Ramos has been in office as Prime Minister since January 2025, when he was chosen by the President of the Republic, against the decision of the then leader of the ADI, Patrice Trovoada who had been dismissed by the head of state, who claimed institutional disloyalty and inability to solve many of the country's problems.